The Mission Valley area is about to see a new hotel rise next to the longstanding Marriott where tennis courts once stood. According to San Diego Union-Tribune, the 148-room property on Rio San Diego Drive will be Marriott’s first Element by Westin-branded hotel in San Diego County. This is a big deal because it’s one of the first newly constructed hotels to open in Mission Valley since 2016.
The Element will be able to take advantage of some of its next-door neighbor’s amenities, like the restaurant and resort-style pool. Driftwood Capital, a Florida-based commercial real estate investment firm that purchased the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley in 2019, is developing this $72 million project.
They say the decision to redevelop the site makes financial sense, given the continued development in Mission Valley—most notably the addition of Snapdragon Stadium and expansion plans by San Diego State University. Plus, there’s a need for more hotel rooms in the surrounding area.
Daniel Katz, vice president of asset management for Driftwood, noted that the inventory of hotel rooms in Mission Valley has decreased over the past several years, in part due to the revamp of the Town and Country resort, which downsized to make way for hundreds of new apartments. In addition, a Residence Inn was acquired by the San Diego Housing Commission to provide housing for people who are homeless.
“If you look at Mission Valley’s upper-priced hotels, that set runs around 77 percent occupancy for the Mission Valley submarket alone, and when you peel back the onion further and look at our direct competitors (to the Element brand) in Mission Valley, those run at almost 90 percent occupancy, so we think there certainly is demand for that market,” Katz said.
He noted that overall supply has dropped 8 percent since the end of 2019—from 6,388 to 5,901 guest rooms.
“Coupled with that is the fact that it is incredibly difficult to develop in San Diego,” Katz added. “We’ve been working on entitlements since 2019, so it’s been a five-year process just to be able to break ground. We really believe by building a hotel now, we’re going to be the newest product in town, and we will be that for some time.”
The Element, a brand known for its larger extended-stay-style rooms, clean, contemporary design, and focus on wellness, will include 5,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space enclosed by glass looking out onto an outdoor plaza area that will be shared with the meeting space for the adjoining Marriott, explained Bruce Greenfield, a partner with the AO architectural firm.
The lobby, which will be wrapped in glass on three sides and will offer views of the San Diego River, will have plenty of lounge seating to accommodate a breakfast buffet in the morning and coffee service throughout the day, Greenfield said.
The facade of the new hotel will feature a six-story-tall wood arch that will frame the entry, complemented by a “green wall” that will be covered with an ivy-like plant, Greenfield said. The plant wall will be about 15 feet tall.
There will be a mix of room types, including king and double queen rooms, although the majority will be suites. One guestroom feature unique to the Element hotels will be a concept known as Studio Commons, where guests can rent a spacious living area and fully equipped kitchen anchored by four private guest rooms.
“It would work for, say, a family reunion,” Greenfield said. “It’s sort of like an Airbnb concept.”
This new project comes at a time when development of hotels is slowing considerably in California because of rising construction costs and still-high interest rates.
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